What gave you the itch or motivation to take up diving

[Belzelbub]

I've always been in the water. We had a pool at our house almost as far back as I remember, so we all learned to swim fairly young. We were also at the beach a lot, and I was constantly snorkeling. But the draw wasn't really there as snorkeling in a pool or at a sandy beach didn't really hold my interest for very long.

When I was a bit older, we took a trip down to the Keys. My parent's booked a snorkeling trip, and I was hooked. I started pestering them at that point to allow me to get certified. They finally relented.

Only problem was that I didn't have any gear at that point, had limited resources (I was 15), and didn't really have any friends who dove. I ended up taking a 2nd OW class a few years later, got my first set of gear, and had friends who were divers.

 

[Schwob]

For me the hook was definitely set by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Maybe in the early 70s. But (common theme it seems) for many years there was no opportunity and funds, then other things had finding priority, then there were a couple of decades where I already had plenty of hobbies the wife did not have and really did not need another one. Then in 2015 my son was interested to go to a camp with scuba class & "Bingo", no further excuses needed...

 

[Seaweed Doc]

The proximate cause for me was a study abroad course that went to what's now called the Mayan Riviera (just north of Playa del Carmen) in December 1985. I wanted to make sure I was certified to dive on the trip.

That's just the timing, though. I think I would have learned at some point in college regardless. I posted the following on Facebook on Jan. 20, 2020 to explain:

The guy that inspired me to be a SCUBA diver passed away this morning after battling pancreatic cancer for a bit over a year.

He was 15 years older than me, so of course when I was 6 or 7 he was the epitome of "cool." He started downhill skiing and learned to SCUBA dive in college, so 6 or 7 year old me resolved to do both of those things. Thankfully for my body and the people down slope of me, I gave up downhill skiing very quickly. But who knew I'd become not only a SCUBA diver, but a marine biologist and SCUBA instructor after being inspired by this guy? (He stuck to skiing in the end; of 10 or 11 dives he logged, 5 or 6 were with me as an adult.)

More recently, he's inspired me as a father. His 3 kids have grown up to be remarkably thoughtful, kind people. I can only hope my kids are as good human beings as his are.

My brother, the Rev. Dr. Marvin Paul Nelson (Paul to us), was 68 years old.

 

[DBPacific]

David Attenborough and watching The Blue Planet documentaries religiously after school to and beyond the point that my sister honestly warned me that it was replacing my faith. That series plus growing up watching the cool scientists and adventures in Star Trek made me want to become a marine biologist, and even though child-me had no idea how a person could go underwater except by submarine, I knew I wanted to be there. Several college scholarships and cautionary tales about sharks (that I mostly ignored) later and I'm both a science diver and 4 months from finishing my B.S. in Marine Biology.

My mother at least has stopped warning me about sharks. Now I think she's just trying to ignore that they exist. She almost had a heart attack when I told her about sea snakes

 

[rolanddiver]

Ever since I was a little kid (age 2- 3) I wanted to be a scuba diver. It must have been a DNA defect Nothing fascinated me more than whatever is beneath the surface.I didn't even know how to swim, but I was already snorkeling in lake Balaton (nothing to see and it was about 0.7m deep). Unfortunately I had to wait until '95 till I got my first NAUI cert due to lack of money to support my hobby. Last week when I was looking for a pair of skates for my daughter at my Mom's house I found my first pair of fins and mask/snorkel set, which is about 40 years old. Funny enough, the fins (Italian made) doesn't even have any cracks on them, snorkel is OK, but the mask is badly cracked (the rubber part). Put them on the shelf as a display item and sometimes my daughter puts them on (she is almost 3 now)

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Not to sound cliche...'but there was this girl'...

The girl in question is still a close friend, but the relationship soured. Diving did not .

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

This is me at age 4. I didn't want to just look in tidepools, I wanted to be in them!

 

[seeker242]

Snorkeling! And the fact that I just so happen to live right down the street from some of the best diving in the country.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When I was a kid in the 60’s I used to watch divers come out of the water at Carmel River Beach all dressed in slick black wetsuits with shiny chrome regulators.
When I was in third grade there was a kid in my class that scuba dived with his dad in Monterey. One day they did a scuba demo at school for our class and the kid was under water in a big barrel breathing off his reg. We thought it was the coolest thing.
I used to watch Jacques Cousteau on TV and thought it was totally cool.

I remember all this stuff and it was the planted seed, but didn’t actually take any action on scuba diving until I was 36 yo.

 

[dead dog]

The year was 1952 I was nine years old and saw the movie "THE FROGMEN" with Richard Widmark.
I moved out to the left coast in 1959 from Pittsburgh, Pa. and met my mentor Harry Vetter who was my instructor out of the dive shop the "Aquatic Center" in Santa Ana, Ca. I was a member of several dive clubs, the first was the "Sea Sabers" through Autonetics a division of North American Aviation in Anaheim, Ca. This was long (1952) before I heard of Jacques Cousteau or SeaHunt.